Redesign at Lincoln Elementary School in Clay Center

Clay Center, KS-
On Monday evening, USD 379 held their monthly BOE meeting.  One of the things discussed was the Lincoln Elementary School Redesign of Apollo II. And for the last two years Lincoln Elementary has been going through a redesign process with the students and staff.  On March 30th two KSD redesign specialists from the Smoky Hills Education Center, as well as Mr. Nelson and Mrs. Pfizenmaier, heard the redesign story.
Lincoln Elementary received a letter from KSD designating them as a redesigned school.

And as far as why the do that, the kids say it perfectly.

The redesign team consisted of representatives in each grade level, including pre-k and 3rd grade, intervention team and the special education department.
At the beginning of the redesign process, teachers reported that students were struggling with self-regulation in the class room.  So, to combat that, the redesign team implemented a movement hall way with sensory items to help the kids relieve stress and anxiety leaving them feeling like they can do anything.
It was found that 3rd graders need centered around reading and confidence in their reading skills, so the students were paired with high school mentors that faced the same difficulties and have biweekly activities to build relationships confidence in their reading skills and their strengthening connections to school
Next the redesign team centered on community partnerships personalized learning in real world applications and created clubs for the children to join, soon to be renamed explorations.  Students chose which club they were interested in and met two days a week.  The true purpose of clubs is to provide students with the opportunity to have more voice and choice in their learning and learn about topics they are passionate about.
The final personalized learning team the personalized learning team focused on the redesigned principles of student success skills and personalized learning the team identified a need in the area of reading skills across all grade levels.  It was found that in September 2021 45% of the school was at least one grade level behind in reading, 51% was on grade level, and 4% was above grade level.  Through the Alexia Core 5 program the numbers have improved to 22% that are below grade level.
 
Janet Schnell covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.
KFRM covers news from across the state of Kansas, the Northern part of Oklahoma, and Southern part of Nebraska.
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